Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
Jose J. Ortiz-Carlo wrote: If you're an Asimov fan, I ask: what did you (or anyone in our audience) think of Asimov's Magic: The Final Fantasy Collection? I liked it, but I recently gave it to a friend who wanted to read it, and she told me she found it disappointing. I don't know why. Big Asimov fan, but not much of a fantasy fan. I have the book you mention but it is in my to read stack and fairly far down. I'm not anti-fantasy. I like George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. Lois McMaster Bujold's The Curse of Chalion was excellent and she has a sequel coming out with Paladin in the title. Of course, there's always Tolkien. But a lot of the other stuff out there (at there is a LOT of it) seems to be 8 or 9 or 10 books of the same stuff. George A ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
On Saturday, March 8, 2003, at 02:31 am, G. D. Akin wrote: Lalith Vipulananthan _Perdido Street Station_ is a steampunk fantasy (a term coined by John Clute) and has a brilliantly imagined setting in the city of New Crobuzon. My review of it is below. If you want the short version, a member of the Culture List summed it up with the following: Book. China Miville. Epic grimy creature-filled steampunk fantasy/horror novel. Fabulous. Counterpoint: Perdido Street Station Awful! I quite liked it. Could have done with better editing. The usual outbreak of solecisms and homophones that seems to afflict every novel these days. I haven't had to wade through so much gunk since Dahlgren. I liked Dhalgren too! And it was good value, with all those pages... I will say that he can write, he can show, but cannot tell an interesting story and does not create likeable characters. PSS describes a world bereft of hope. I'm guessing you didn't (wouldn't) like Thomas M Disch's _The Genocides_ either then ? -- William T Goodall Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/ Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it. -- Donald E. Knuth ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
William T Goodall wrote: I'm guessing you didn't (wouldn't) like Thomas M Disch's _The Genocides_ either then ? Don't know--never read him, though my next non-novel to read is his The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of. BTW, just wrapping up James Gunn's Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction. This is a great read for any Asimov fan. George A ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
From: G. D. Akin [EMAIL PROTECTED] William T Goodall wrote: BTW, just wrapping up James Gunn's Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction. This is a great read for any Asimov fan. George A If you're an Asimov fan, I ask: what did you (or anyone in our audience) think of Asimov's Magic: The Final Fantasy Collection? I liked it, but I recently gave it to a friend who wanted to read it, and she told me she found it disappointing. I don't know why. JJ _ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
Jose wrote: I'm going to make my weekly expedition to Borders in a couple of days. I'd like to stock up on SciFi books. What's new and worthy out there? Two excellent books that I read last year were _Perdido Street Station_ by China Mieville and _Heroes Die_ by Matthew Woodring Stover. _Perdido Street Station_ is a steampunk fantasy (a term coined by John Clute) and has a brilliantly imagined setting in the city of New Crobuzon. My review of it is below. If you want the short version, a member of the Culture List summed it up with the following: Book. China Miéville. Epic grimy creature-filled steampunk fantasy/horror novel. Fabulous. _Heroes Die_ is an excellent SF fantasy that takes genre conventions and takes extreme pleasure in twisting them around so much you have no idea what's going on. One point that Stover makes in the book is that sorting everything into good and evil is far too simplistic for the complexities of human life. So all of his characters do good and bad things and the result is a mix of grey people who are truly human. There's much more I could say about it but it'd give away a lot of stuff that is far more fun to find out through reading it - the first chapter in particular will throw you for sure. One of the best fantasy books I've read for a long time. --- For a second novel, Perdido Street Station has garnered some impressive accolades - rave reviews in the mainstream press and the 2001 Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction. As a result of this acclaim, so many superlatives have been thrown at the novel that it is hard to describe its tour de force of imagination without sounding like a reiteration of a previous review. Perdido Street Station has been labelled fantasy but it is one of those novels that stubbornly resists such simple categorisation. Elements of science fiction and horror are blended together with the gothic monstrosity of Gormenghast and the steam-driven technology of The Difference Engine to form a multi-layered, yet cohesive, whole. Set in the metropolis of New Crobuzon, the opening reveals a melting pot of otherworldly races, magic, science, social unrest and corruption before veering off into darker territories, narrowly missing a collision with full-on B-movie horror. As the city becomes embroiled in a crisis that affects all of its inhabitants, the novel builds up to a climax that will change New Crobuzon forever. Closer examination of the plot will reveal that it isn't actually that outstanding. It twists, it turns, it thrills but it is fairly predictable and it is unoriginal. Fortunately this can be disregarded in the face of two points - the characters and, in particular, the intricate description of the city itself. New Crobuzon is realised in such grimy and vile detail that it becomes a living, breathing character, one so full of history and stories that Miéville is forced to leave much unsaid within the 880 pages of the novel. That is not to say that he doesn't cram a lot in but one senses that there is more waiting to be told within the land of Bas-Lag. The only real criticism I can level at the book is that part of the finale is achieved with a deus ex machina. Although not quite on the same level as Peter F Hamilton's appalling ending to the Night's Dawn trilogy, it is just a tad irritating that an author can spend so much time thinking through a plot and building up the story for 99% of a novel to then throw it all away by relying on a blatantly half-arsed plot-device. I could whine some more but I won't because it is only a minor glitch in a book that is packed with so much imagination and inventiveness that I was left feeling overwhelmed by the end and desperate for more. In short, read this book. Now. --- Lal GSV Late Reply ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
I second that. Infinity Beach was pretty good; Chindi is even better. George A - Original Message - From: Julia Thompson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2003 1:11 PM Subject: Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi? Jose J. Ortiz-Carlo wrote: Hi, gang.. I'm going to make my weekly expedition to Borders in a couple of days. I'd like to stock up on SciFi books. What's new and worthy out there? If it's not too late If you've never tried any Jack McDevitt, look his stuff over. My husband has really been enjoying his stuff. (I think he's reading his third one now.) I've read of his novels, _Infinity Beach_, and enjoyed it. That one was a neat sort of mystery. Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
Jose J. Ortiz-Carlo wrote: Hi, gang.. I'm going to make my weekly expedition to Borders in a couple of days. I'd like to stock up on SciFi books. What's new and worthy out there? If it's not too late If you've never tried any Jack McDevitt, look his stuff over. My husband has really been enjoying his stuff. (I think he's reading his third one now.) I've read of his novels, _Infinity Beach_, and enjoyed it. That one was a neat sort of mystery. Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
Jose said: I thank you for your review. MacLeod's books will definitely be on my list. So will be Reynolds'. I think that MacLeod's earlier Fall Revolution books are pretty good on the whole too. The first one, _The Star Fraction_, is obviously a first novel, but the second and later ones (_The Stone Canal_, _The Cassini Division_, _The Sky Road_) range between good and excellent. Be warned that there's a lot of politics mixed in with the sf. (It's interesting that MacLeod is variously seen as both a Communist and a Libertarian.) Your weblog review is quite comprehensive. Where do you publish it? At http://www.theculture.org/rich/sharpblue/ It's only been running for a few weeks so there aren't very many posts there yet. There are also some worthwhile reviews of relatively new sf books (including the same CC review by me) at the Culture Data Repository, a store of less ephemeral posts from the Culture Mailing List. You can find this at http://cdr.sine.com/cdr/ Rich GSV Media Empire ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
Rob said: Phillip Pullman = excellent fantasy The Golden Compass The Subtle Knife The Amber Spyglass These books are wonderful. You might have to look for them in the Children's Fiction section though; I certainly had to do so. (In Europe, at least, they're now available in Child and Adult editions with different covers. This seems to be an idea whose time has come - there are Adult editions of the Harry Potter books, for example.) Rich, waiting for the children's edition of the Gor books. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
Julia said: Which ones are the second and third? MacLeod's books fall into two series, which inhabit different future histories: The first series are the Fall Revolution books (also known as the Norlonto books and probably by some other collective titles). These are _The Star Fraction_, _The Stone Canal_, _The Cassini Division_ and _The Sky Road_. (This series has a built-in alternative history, with that last volume occupying a different timeline. It's not totally obviously from reading it that this is the case and some people have tried to fit it into the timeline of the other books, but MacLeod himself has confirmed [both in interviews and in private conversation with me at a signing] that it's not possible and that there's a definite branch point.) The second series are the Engines of Light books. These are _Cosmonaut Keep_, _Dark Light_ and _Engine City_. I've only read the first of these, but have copies of the second and third in my pile of unread books and I'll get to them as soon as I've finished _Redemption Ark_ and Alexander's _Notes on the Synthesis of Form_. Rich GCU Quick Overview ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
Check out Hominids and Humans by Robert Sawyer and Evolution by Steve Baxter. I'm in the middle of Coyote by Allen Steele . . . excellent planetary colonization novel. Originally published as a series of novella and novelettes. Stealing Alabama was Hugo nominee last year and The Between Years is up for a Nebula this year. A good read! George A - Original Message - From: Reggie Bautista [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 9:25 AM Subject: Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi? JJ wrote: Hi, gang.. I'm going to make my weekly expedition to Borders in a couple of days. I'd like to stock up on SciFi books. What's new and worthy out there? If you haven't read _Kiln People_ yet, definitely pick it up. I'm not quite to the end yet (about 60 pages left out of 568 in the paperback edition), but the farther I get into it, the better I like it (and I liked it from the beginning). If you *have* read _Kiln People_ and you have any interest in the situation revealed in chapter 52, there's a really interesting book called _In the Company of Mind_ by Steven Piziks that deals in depth with that type of situation, along with nanotech, AI, security, and also a pretty scary look at child abuse. WARNING: If you haven't read _Kiln People_ yet, don't look at the reviews of this book on Amazon, as they discuss something that's a major plot point in _Kiln People_ but is discussed from the very beginning of ItCoM. Also, don't read the back cover, it has spoilers for the first 5 to 7 chapters of the book. And if you read the Amazon reviews, ignore the review that says this isn't science fiction; I definitely explores the social results of some interesting technologies. There is also a sequel which I have not read yet called _Corporate Mentality_. If you like alternate history and alternate science/technology novels, there is a series of four novels by J. Gregory Keyes collectively called The Age of Unreason. The four books are _Newton's Cannon_, _A Calculus of Angels_, _Empire of Unreason_, and _The Shadows of God_. The history in these books diverges from our history with Sir Isaac Newton, who is successful in developing alchemy (in real history, he tried but failed). Major characters in the books include Newton, a young Ben Franklin (the main hero of the novels so far, if there is one), Louis XIV, Adrienne de Montchevreuil (a consort of Louis XIV), Peter the Great, the pirate Blackbeard, and Cotton Mather, among others. As the books progress, new discoveries in alchemy are treated in a very scientific fashion and look much like later actual scientific advancements seen in a somewhat distorted mirror. I've read the first three and loved them, and just got a copy of book 4. Keyes is best known as a fantasy writer, although he also wrote the Babylon 5 Psicore trilogy from an outline by jms. I don't know if this guy is the same as the Greg Keyes who wrote a couple of Star Wars: New Jedi Order books. Reggie Bautista The Alternative View Maru _ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
Leo Frankowsky - Conrad's series - time travel Charles de Lint - Memory and Dream - urban fantasy Ilana ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
Robert Seeberger wrote: I like William Browning Spencer. The man is insane. Resume With Monsters Zod Wallop The Return Of Count Electric Which one do you recommend starting with? Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
- Original Message - From: Julia Thompson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 9:25 AM Subject: Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi? Robert Seeberger wrote: I like William Browning Spencer. The man is insane. Resume With Monsters Zod Wallop The Return Of Count Electric Which one do you recommend starting with? The Return Of Count Electric is a short story compilation. I prefer either of the novels. xponent Zod Wallop Maru rob You are a fluke of the universe. You have no right to be here. And whether you can hear it or not, the universe is laughing behind your back. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
Jose said: I'm going to make my weekly expedition to Borders in a couple of days. I'd like to stock up on SciFi books. What's new and worthy out there? I'm reading Alastair Reynolds' Conjoiner/Demarchist books at the moment. The first one, _Revelation Space_ was a little disappointing but showed quite a lot of promise. The third one, _Redemption Ark_ is a sequel to _Revelation Space_ and is excellent so far. Those two are both big, complex hard-sf space operas along the lines of Vinge's _A Deepness in the Sky_. The second in the series, _Chasm City_, is a little different: a revenge thriller that's smaller in scale. Here's a review of it that I recently posted to my weblog: I'm starting to really enjoy Alastair Reynolds' books. After a shaky start in _Revelation Space_ (a novel that showed a lot of promise but which was riven with flaws), he's hit his stride in _Chasm City_, which is not a prequel to the earlier book although it is set some decades earlier in the same Conjoiner/Demarchist universe. This time round, he's not trying to cram a dozen wonders into a single novel, but just to tell a good story. And it is a good story. Tanner Mirabel has travelled across interstellar space from backward, war-torn Sky's Edge to glorious, high-tech Yellowstone for one purpose: murderous vengeance. His prey, we learn, has made the same journey with the same motive. Neither find quite what they expect: while they were in transit, the Yellowstone system has been devastated by the Melding Plague, a disease that infects nanotechnology. Chasm City, once a dazzling metropolis, is now a nightmare of twisted buildings, lawlessness and decay, the stratifications of its architecture reflecting the new and terrible stratifications of its society. It is a place where power is the only law. The bulk of the novel tells of the playing out of the various hunts. In the interstices of this story, however, a second story is told in dreams induced by an indoctrinal virus. It tells of Sky Haussmann and the Flotilla that first carried humans from Sol to Sky's Edge, and of the atrocity for which he was crucified, and of something more mysterious. There follows a long and complex series of intrigues and betrayals, punctuated by bursts of violence. Indeed, the twists and turns of the plot are so complex that I often found myself unable to remember who has betrayed whom and why. Scattered through all this, there are many clues that not all is as it seems. To say more would be to cut through the Gordian's knot of identity and memory that lies at the story's heart. Alas, at the climax Reynolds doesn't quite manage to cleanly untangle this knot, and the jigsaw pieces of plot don't fit as smoothly as they should. Nevertheless, it's an intense and interesting novel, well told and full of invention. My hopes are high for _Redemption Ark_, which returns to the matter of the Inhibitors and the struggles of various human and transhuman factions. After I finish with these, I'm going to read the second and third volumes of Ken MacLeod's Engines of Light. Again, I thought the first one, _Cosmonaut Keep_, didn't live up to the promise of his earlier work but I've heard good things about the second and, especially, the third. Rich, who seems to be reading more history books than sf recently. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
JJ wrote: Hi, gang.. I'm going to make my weekly expedition to Borders in a couple of days. I'd like to stock up on SciFi books. What's new and worthy out there? If you haven't read _Kiln People_ yet, definitely pick it up. I'm not quite to the end yet (about 60 pages left out of 568 in the paperback edition), but the farther I get into it, the better I like it (and I liked it from the beginning). If you *have* read _Kiln People_ and you have any interest in the situation revealed in chapter 52, there's a really interesting book called _In the Company of Mind_ by Steven Piziks that deals in depth with that type of situation, along with nanotech, AI, security, and also a pretty scary look at child abuse. WARNING: If you haven't read _Kiln People_ yet, don't look at the reviews of this book on Amazon, as they discuss something that's a major plot point in _Kiln People_ but is discussed from the very beginning of ItCoM. Also, don't read the back cover, it has spoilers for the first 5 to 7 chapters of the book. And if you read the Amazon reviews, ignore the review that says this isn't science fiction; I definitely explores the social results of some interesting technologies. There is also a sequel which I have not read yet called _Corporate Mentality_. If you like alternate history and alternate science/technology novels, there is a series of four novels by J. Gregory Keyes collectively called The Age of Unreason. The four books are _Newton's Cannon_, _A Calculus of Angels_, _Empire of Unreason_, and _The Shadows of God_. The history in these books diverges from our history with Sir Isaac Newton, who is successful in developing alchemy (in real history, he tried but failed). Major characters in the books include Newton, a young Ben Franklin (the main hero of the novels so far, if there is one), Louis XIV, Adrienne de Montchevreuil (a consort of Louis XIV), Peter the Great, the pirate Blackbeard, and Cotton Mather, among others. As the books progress, new discoveries in alchemy are treated in a very scientific fashion and look much like later actual scientific advancements seen in a somewhat distorted mirror. I've read the first three and loved them, and just got a copy of book 4. Keyes is best known as a fantasy writer, although he also wrote the Babylon 5 Psicore trilogy from an outline by jms. I don't know if this guy is the same as the Greg Keyes who wrote a couple of Star Wars: New Jedi Order books. Reggie Bautista The Alternative View Maru _ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
From: Reggie Bautista [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi? Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 18:25:16 -0600 JJ wrote: Hi, gang.. I'm going to make my weekly expedition to Borders in a couple of days. I'd like to stock up on SciFi books. What's new and worthy out there? If you haven't read _Kiln People_ yet, definitely pick it up. If you *have* read _Kiln People_ and you have any interest in the situation revealed in chapter 52, there's a really interesting book called _In the Company of Mind_ by Steven Piziks that deals in depth with that type of situation, along with nanotech, AI, security, and also a pretty scary look at child abuse. If you like alternate history and alternate science/technology novels, there is a series of four novels by J. Gregory Keyes collectively called The Age of Unreason. The four books are _Newton's Cannon_, _A Calculus of Angels_, _Empire of Unreason_, and _The Shadows of God_. Wow, Reggie!! You went thru great lengths in describing your suggestions to me. I sincerely appreciate it. I am particularly intrigued by Keyes Age of Unreason. One of my kids, a Senior girl whose SciFi collection is large enough to fill the New York City Public Library g has been ranting and raving about the Keyes books. And who said that kids don't read enough these days? :) I will DEFINITELY be picking up those selections Friday. I'll keep you posted. JJ (Who loves nothing more than a good SciFi book and a cold, rainy night to curl up with it). _ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
Reggie Bautista wrote: Keyes is best known as a fantasy writer, although he also wrote the Babylon 5 Psicore trilogy from an outline by jms. I don't know if this guy is the same as the Greg Keyes who wrote a couple of Star Wars: New Jedi Order books. It *is* the same guy. At least, that's the impression I got from the planning meetings I went to for a con where he was Guest of Honor, anyway :) Julia p.s. Vernor Vinge will be at a con in Austin in August, if anyone's interested. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
From: Richard Baker [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi? Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 11:25:26 + Jose said: I'm going to make my weekly expedition to Borders in a couple of days. I'd like to stock up on SciFi books. What's new and worthy out there? I'm reading Alastair Reynolds' Conjoiner/Demarchist books at the moment... Richard: I thank you for your review. MacLeod's books will definitely be on my list. So will be Reynolds'. Your weblog review is quite comprehensive. Where do you publish it? Anybody else care to join in with a recommendation?? Suggestions are welcome. JJ Who is reading more SciFi books than anything lately... and IT'S ALL BRIN-L'S FAULT!! :p _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi?
Richard Baker wrote: After I finish with these, I'm going to read the second and third volumes of Ken MacLeod's Engines of Light. Again, I thought the first one, _Cosmonaut Keep_, didn't live up to the promise of his earlier work but I've heard good things about the second and, especially, the third. Which ones are the second and third? We have 3 or 4 books by MacLeod; _The Sky Road_ was nominated for the Hugo at some point, and I acquired a copy to read so's I could be fair in filling out my ballot. I was impressed enough to acquire some more of his books in paperback, including _Cosmonaut Keep_. So now I'm wondering, in what order should I be reading the MacLeod, when I decide to read more of his stuff? Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
